Joe Biden does not believe that the words he spoke about Xi Jinping, whom he called “a dictator”, will have consequences for the thaw efforts between China and the United States. “The answer to his question is no,” said the American president, answering a question on the matter during the press conference with Narendra Modi. Biden then tried to minimize what he called a “hysteria” regarding relations with China: “we had an incident that created confusion – he said referring to the story of the spy balloon – but Secretary Blinken had a great visit China, I expect to meet with President Xi in the future.” “I don’t think they had any real consequences,” Biden concluded.
Read also: The pact to stem China: here are 8 nuclear-powered submarines
Then the US president described the content of the summit with Modi. “The prime minister and I had a good discussion on democratic values, this is the nature of our relations. We are direct and we respect each other because our countries are both democracies.” So Joe Biden replied, during the press conference at the White House with Narendra Modi, to those who are recalling the concerns about the discrimination of religious minorities and the repression of dissent in India. “There are common democratic characteristics in our countries and in our peoples, our diversity, our culture, tolerance”, he added, underlining that these values are “in America’s DNA and I believe in India’s”.